Sobeys parent Empire turns focus to growth after years-long transformation

Shoppers at a west-end Toronto Sobeys grocery store, Sunday, June 26, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy

STELLARTON — Empire Co. Ltd.‘s new chief executive is having “a lot of fun” in the top job as he steers the grocer toward growth six months into his new role.

“I’m just trying to bring this company at the level the company deserves,” said CEO Pierre St-Laurent, who also celebrated 35 years at Empire earlier this week.

St-Laurent, who stepped into the chief executive role late last fall, said the company is pivoting to opening more stores over the next three years and expanding its pharmacy footprint, as priorities shift from fixing its core business, “which is done.”

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The grocer, whose banners include Sobeys, Safeway, FreshCo and Farm Boy, plans to open a total of 70 new stores with a strong focus on discount, while continuing to renovate and upgrade existing locations, he said.

“More than 75 per cent are going in discount because discount is a white space for us,” St-Laurent told analysts on an earnings call Thursday.

“We have a lot of room to grow in discount without cannibalization of our network.”

Growing consumer appetite for deep discounts has driven major grocers, including competitors Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Metro Inc., to expand their discount footprint aggressively in recent years. And it’s been paying off as they credit their discount locations for fuelling sales growth.

Expanding its footprint in Quebec, Empire moved to buy discount retailer and wholesaler Mayrand in April, which St-Laurent said has received regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close in the next few days.

He said the acquisition wasn’t on the table a year ago but the company jumped on it when the opportunity appeared.

“It was a great strategy to enter into the discount and wholesale market and the acquisition cost was very affordable for us,” St-Laurent said.

The acquisition is a part of a broader search for growth and savings under St-Laurent’s leadership.

Sobeys’ parent company took a large writedown of $746 million after it announced in January it was closing its Voilà grocery distribution centres in Alberta and pausing the online service’s expansion in the Vancouver area.

In its outlook for its 2027 financial year, Empire expects its capital spending to be about $850 million, with about half allocated to renovations and new stores and 25 per cent allocated to IT and business development projects.

The remainder will be spent largely on logistics and sustainability.

RBC analyst Irene Nattel said in a note that the company’s capital allocation outlook was broadly in line with expectations.

Although she said the fourth quarter financial results were just shy of forecast, “underpinned by solid merchandising strategies in place to address ongoing value-seeking consumer spending behaviour.”

The company reported a fourth-quarter profit and upped its quarterly dividend on Thursday. It earned $212 million or 94 cents per share for the quarter ended May 2, compared with a profit of $173 million or 74 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Quarterly dividends will now be 24.25 cents per share, up from 22 cents per share.

Empire said sales totalled $7.81 billion for its most recent quarter, up from $7.64 billion.

The increase came as same-store sales rose 1.7 per cent, while same-store food sales gained 1.5 per cent. Same-store fuel sales added five per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2026.

By Ritika Dubey